help with my computer required:::

[Ellen]

hi there

My computer is full! But I dont know why its so full, its an 80gb hard drive, and only 25gb are photos, and 7gb is music.. I've got that external hard drive that I won () so will put some stuff onto that.

Is there any way I can see a break up of where all the space is being taken up? Some kind of program or something?

Thanks heaps
Ellen

[Kym]

80gb is considered small now-a-days.

I assume your computer is Windows XP + Office + Photo editing + other software (games) etc. That's 20 Gb plus before data.

How old is your computer? 3+ years start thinking upgrade, 5+ years think replacement.

Do you have a DVD burner? They cost <$50 anyway (MSY or similar shop).
Then archive (two copies verified) and store one off-site (office, parents place, anywhere a long way from home).

[oldfart]

(this is assuming Windows XP, 80Gb hdd suggests xp)

1st step open My Computer, Tools, Folder Options, and select Show Hidden Files and Folders.

Next browse to Documents and Settings, they'll be a group of folders
the one you need to open will match the user name your using the computer under
browse to local settings then temp

Delete everything you can in that folder (but not the folder itself)

I'd suggest that and a disk cleanup (All Programs / Accessories/ System Tools/ Disk Cleanup) should give you back a lot of space.

[Ellen]

thanks Kym,

yeah I know 80gb is small... but my laptop still works just fine so won't be replacing it anytime soon. Can I get more HD put into it? I might just get that done...

What you described my computer to be - xp etc is exactly right - i totally forgot about xp and all that stuff taking up space!! lol.

[Ellen]

(this is assuming Windows XP, 80Gb hdd suggests xp)

1st step open My Computer, Tools, Folder Options, and select Show Hidden Files and Folders.

Next browse to Documents and Settings, they'll be a group of folders
the one you need to open will match the user name your using the computer under
browse to local settings then temp

Delete everything you can in that folder (but not the folder itself)

I'd suggest that and a disk cleanup (All Programs / Accessories/ System Tools/ Disk Cleanup) should give you back a lot of space.

Cool, thanks for that! I'll definitely have a go.

[brindyman]

websites you visit....dump files and the such also takeup room as do recycle bin etc etc disk cleanup sorts all that out......i would clean out your cookies and browser cache too i cant say for IE but in firefox its in Tools > options > privacy tab

i have mine set to always clear data from firefox when close i would only reccomend this if you have a fairly fast connection as it does hinder loading pages

[Kym]

Cr*p Cleaner helps as well http://www.ccleaner.com/

[brindyman]

Cr*p Cleaner helps as well http://www.ccleaner.com/

theirs plenty of them out their kym LOL gawd knows ive used a few

[dh52726]

thanks Kym,

yeah I know 80gb is small... but my laptop still works just fine so won't be replacing it anytime soon. Can I get more HD put into it? I might just get that done...

...

you can get new hdds to replace the internal one, but that would mean you have to reinstall all your software (xp, office, etc)

What model laptop do you have?

120gb $70-90
320gb $110-130
500gb $180+

these are SATA hdds, not IDE, so you need to check your laptop model first.

As for cleaning up the space. i find windows system restore to hold a lot of data.
- right click on your hdd -> properties -> disk cleanup-> check all the boxes, then click on more options at the top and click on "clean up" next to system restore" once donw click ok and a second clean up takes place.

System restore keeps old system files in case you corrupt any files, the clan up deletes all but the last restore point, so make sure your laptop is running fine before you clean it up.

[draco]

ooohhh, 80Gb isn't much nowadays.. i got a 160Gb partition just for the OS and program files..

if you really want to know where all those hard disk space are, try jdiskreport, it will show you a pie chart of your entire hardisk...http://www.jgoodies.com/freeware/jdiskreport/

and that just reminded me that i need to re-install this handy software..